The White Council

Re: Dwarves and Elves a clash of peronality?

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: Also the material aquisitiveness of the Dwarves must have led to Elves distrusting them. Sharp trading practice does not lead to mutual esteem.

Note the love (lust?) of Silver that Thranduil had. Also Feanor's hordes, and the hordes of various Noldo lords, the gold in Nargothrond, the sacking of Doriath turned up some interesting treasures. I would say that your average Noldrorian elf of old was just as materialistic as the dwarves.

: The Dwarves appear to have lacked an appreciation of music, or it was grossly different from that of Elves or Men, this would have been something which would not endear them to the Elves.

It may not endear, but it wouldn't matter much either. There is much diversity among human musicians of various races, and there is hardly any distaste between races, based upon music. (It's mainly based on colour of skin!)

: The Dwarves were in general monomaniacal, building, creating objects of craftsmanship and amassing worldly wealth were the things which chiefly mattered to Dwarves. These drives were much less important to most Elves.

Umm, think of the Noldorian smiths! This is one of the driving forces of their society, based on their love for making things, and hording gems of their design. By most elves, I think you overreach yourself. I agree that elves of the third age seemed to have curbed their desire to create, but that may be because the Noldor have mostly gone West.

: In general Elves were aware of the natural environment and their creations (buildings, jewelry etc.) were made to harmonise with nature, the Dwarves in contrast seem to have delighted in overcoming nature and imposing their will on it.

Umm, they lived underground, in fairly "natural" caves. Sure, they were dwarf cities, and things had been built within the natural confines, but I had always envisioned Rivendell's "Last Homely House" to be well, a house. Nothing more unnatural than that! At least the Dwarves lived within natural confines. I think what you meant was the dwarves' love of stone, and stone work, where as the elves seemed to like living plants more.

: All in all it is not surprising that a basic level of distrust and lack of sympathy existed between the two races. Any actual hostilities between them due to specific grievances would only tend to reinforce prejudice.

Well, I wouldn't say that such petty prejudice would lead to serious amounts of mistrust. Even in human society (Earth), these would be considered petty. When you cosider that elves and dwarves speak the common tongue, and know of each other's pasts, and historys, you would think that they would trust each other. There isn't too much to mistrust each other about!

Don't get me wrong, I believe that there was strife between the two kindreds. Just not for the reasons that you pointed out above.

I think it's more the whole deal with the Nauglimir, which was a HUGE deal. Also the fact that some dwarves fought on Morgoth's side. BUT, I don't see why the elves didn't mistrust men for the same reason. After all, men as a race were pretty shifty, and traitorous. Also, many clans had sided with Sauron. Could it be the marriages of elves and men that stemmed the prejudice? It would seem that there's more to the Elf/Dwarf thing than just their taste in music....

Gandalf